Escape and Return

Yemenat

Ahmed Saif Hashed

I fled to the house of “Al-Shanaghib,” my grandfather’s home—my mother’s father. I think “Al-Shanaghib” derives from “Shanghab,” meaning a protrusion, and perhaps it refers to the peaks of the mountains behind the hill that hosts my grandfather’s house. I cannot be certain, but it is an attempt to understand any possible relationship between this name and the jutting mountains behind it, or between the house itself, which seems to protrude at its peak, and the gradually rising mountains behind it, where the larger peaks support the smaller ones, creating a sequence of successive protrusions. In this context, Abdulhafiz Abdullah Al-Qabati poetically observes:

The sun casts shadows on the back of Al-Shanaghib,

And magic pours forth, bringing delights to hearts.

My grandfather’s house is about five kilometers from my father’s home, situated near the borders of the southern state, which was once known as the “People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen.” Some details suggest that this house was once a military stronghold, perched atop one of the mountains and supported by larger and higher mountains, standing alone in its vicinity. There are numerous houses scattered around it to the north and south, while below the mountain lies a valley called “Wadi Al-Sadr.”

Adjacent to the house is an underground water tank, and within the house are narrow openings and long, narrow slits that can be used for surveillance and firing a rifle outside. These allow for the rifle’s barrel to extend outward at a specific angle. It seems this house has witnessed some of what it was meant for in a bygone era.

My mother lived in this house for a short time before I was born, and I spent brief periods there with her during my childhood whenever she sought refuge from my father. I found